scalevsSeeleTell them apart

Which to use

“scale” and “Seele” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,769
“scale” frequency rank
#1,711
“Seele” frequency rank
33480
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scale Seele
Definition Waage charakteristisches Merkmal lebender Wesen; der unsterbliche Teil der (fühlenden) Lebewesen

Where the eye mixes scale and Seele

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
scale
5 ch
Seele

Visual trap between scale and Seele

A purely visual mix-up. scale ([skeɪl]) and Seele ([ˈzeːlə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33480, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scale is recorded at frequency rank #31,769, classified as anoun, pronounced [skeɪl]. Seele is at rank #1,711, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzeːlə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 33480, this pair ranks #1,685,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of scale vs Seele

Shared letters: els. Private to "scale": ac. Private to "Seele": -.

"scale" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Seele" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scalecsale · sacle · scael · scalle · sccale · sclae · sscale
  • Seeleesele · seeel · seelle · sele · selee · sseele

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "scale" for "Seele" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([skeɪl] versus [ˈzeːlə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "scale" or "Seele" show up more?
"Seele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,711 in our German list, against #31,769 for "scale". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Seele" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,685,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scale" and "Seele" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sake vs scale". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,685,118 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list